


a tiny grim reaper

by hey_you_with_the_face



Series: life & death &dean [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angel of Death Castiel, Angel of Life Jimmy, Cemetery Caretaker Dean, Fluff, Ice Cream, M/M, Shy Castiel, flirty Jimmy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-19
Updated: 2018-03-19
Packaged: 2019-04-04 18:58:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14026632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hey_you_with_the_face/pseuds/hey_you_with_the_face
Summary: Dean hadn't really noticed the cat at first but even once he does notice, he doesn't think anything of it. It's just a stray, right?





	a tiny grim reaper

**Author's Note:**

> I guess I decided to add to this after all

Looking back, Dean wasn’t exactly sure when the cat had started following him but he was pretty certain it had been quite awhile now that he really thought about it. Though to be fair, after that night in the cemetery several weeks ago, Dean felt he was entitled to be a teeny bit distracted every once and awhile. He hadn’t seen hide nor hair of Castiel and Jimmy and there were times he’d started to convince himself that the whole thing had been a elaborate hallucination but then Dean would remember how he felt when he was brought back to lif--woke up and he realized _that_ was definitely not a dream.

So sue him for being a little too occupied with the whole “coming back from the dead and meeting the entities of Life _and_ Death” to notice the little things.

He’d first noticed the cat while he’d been loading his lawnmower onto the trailer he used to transport it to and from the cemetery. Dean definitely didn’t trust the town’s teenagers to leave his machines unmolested if he were to store them in the small lean-to the cemetery possessed. Right in the middle of strapping down his mower, a quiet rustle followed by an equally quiet purring-chirp had spooked him slightly.

“Hey lil’ guy,” Dean had said softly as he’d looked down to see a black cat sitting a few yards away, its blue eyes fixed on him as he worked. He’d crouched down and offered his fingers for the animal to sniff but it had kept its distance. Figuring the cat was just a skittish stray, Dean had stood and shrugged before continuing with his work.

It hadn’t been until after he drove away that he realized the cat had been watching him the whole time.

The cat, Dean never really bothered to give it name, quickly became a constant shadow in Dean’s life. At first he’d been a bit creeped out but once Dean considered that he didn’t live too far away from the cemetery, he figured it wasn’t too far fetched that the cat followed him; it probably sniffed out where he lived or something and had decided to follow. 

Whenever Dean was at the cemetery, the cat would be nearby. While Dean mowed the grass, the cat sat perched on a tombstone a couple rows down. If Dean was trimming around the stones, the cat could be found crouching on a tree branch overhead or sitting on the ground several yards away. The list went on and on but the net result was Dean had a constant companion while he was a the cemetery and in all honesty, it was kinda nice. Sometimes he’d chat in the cat’s direction, making random observations about what he was doing at the time or telling the cat about families he’d met working there.

Things did get a bit weird when Dean noticed the cat other places too. 

The cat started showing up in his yard while he worked on his shrubs or sitting on his fence while Dean grilled up a burger or two for dinner. Then Dean swore he saw the cat out of the corner of his eye while he was walking down main street as he ran some errands but when he turned to look, the cat was nowhere to be seen.

At first he thought it had been a coincidence, like that thing with owning a blue car then seeing blue cars everywhere except with black cats, but he dismissed this once he saw the bright blue eyes. They seemed vaguely familiar but that was probably because he’d been seeing the damn cat everywhere. It wasn’t until one day when he was helping Benny the stone mason who maintained the statuary and other various stone monuments around the cemetery that Dean started to put the random bits and pieces together.

“You know, brother,” Benny said, slightly out of breath as they both worked to shift a mid sized statue of the Virgin Mary that had been knocked askew by a hearse, “they say that black cats are one of the forms Death takes.” 

Mind occupied by the task at hand and brows furrowed in concentration as he pushed on the statue, Dean grunted. “What?”

He looked up to see Benny nodding off to the side where, surprise surprise, Dean’s constant furry companion was seated primly on a headstone. “I’m talking about your little friend,” Benny said before making a noise of triumph when the statue in their hands shifted into the right position. He gave Dean a quick celebratory back slap before he turned towards the cat again. “If the old wives’ tales are true, your little cemetery has its own tiny grim reaper. Kinda fitting, huh?”

A tiny grim reaper…

All at once the pieces clicked into place and Dean knew what was going on. He couldn’t believe it had taken Benny’s off hand comment for him to realize. The answer was so fucking obvious he probably would have smacked his forehead if Benny hadn’t been standing right there. It took a conscious effort to ignore the impulse to turn and stare at the cat but somehow Dean managed to act natural as he helped Benny pack up his tools and carry everything back to his truck.

“I’ll be back tomorrow to look at that monument with the crack,” Benny said through his open window as he started his truck. “Have a good one, brother.”

“See ya, Benny,” Dean said, giving a small wave and receiving a cordial nod in return. 

He watched as Benny’s truck ambled down the drive towards the cemetery gates. It felt like absolute ages before the pickup disappeared around the corner but once it did, Dean dropped all pretense and turned, eyes searching for the cat. As per usual, he saw the “cat” sitting on a bench a yard or two to his right.

Sighing, Dean walked over and stood right in front of it, his arms crossed and mouth pursed.

“Cas, why are you a cat?” he asked, marvelling that the Angel of Death had time to spare to follow a simple cemetery caretaker around all day and slightly annoyed that Cas didn’t bother to say hello. “You know it’s creepy to follow people around and watch them, right?”

“You’ll have to forgive my brother, Dean. It seems when the universe created us, he received both portions of our social awkwardness.”

Dean blinked rapidly as Jimmy suddenly appeared on the bench next to cat Cas, acting for all the world as if he’d been sitting there the entire time. Though maybe he had been; it wasn’t as if Dean knew what all kinds of powers the Angel of Life possessed. 

Jimmy wasn’t wearing his robes and his wings were noticeably absent. This time he was dressed in a t-shirt and a light zip up hoodie, both in shades of white and light grey respectively, and a pair of well worn blue jeans. Not exactly as awe inspiring as the robes from their first meeting but it didn’t detract from the air of power surrounding him. 

Come to think of it, that feeling of power was something he’d been low key feeling from the cat all this time, Dean just hadn’t been able to put his finger on what it was until now.

Turning to cat-Cas, Jimmy rolled his eyes. “Stop pouting, Cas and join the conversation like an adult.”

Cat-Cas’ eyes narrowed at his twin and Dean had to work extremely hard not to laugh at the picture the two of them made. Death in the form of a cat, looking for all the world like he would like nothing better than to bite and scratch the hell out of his twin while Life casually lectured him. He was saved from accidentally laughing at two of the most powerful beings in the cosmos but a light pop that signaled Cas changing back.

One minute a cat sat on the bench then right before Dean’s eyes, Cas’ human body appeared sans wings. He was still glaring at Jimmy and looked slightly more imposing now that he was dressed in a dark suit and tie paired with a trenchcoat. All his clothing was dark but not black which was mildly surprising.

Apparently the media had gotten Death’s color preferences wrong, who knew?

“I am not pouting,” Cas growled at his twin. “I am annoyed by you. There is a difference.”

Jimmy rolled his eyes again and patted Cas’ arm gently. “Sure you aren’t. You totally aren’t mad that I called you out for being a lovesick puppy.” He paused and chuckled. “Or more like a lovesick kitten, I guess.”

Cas’ face darkened further and fearing for his cemetery’s safety in what he assumed would be an epic Life vs. Death smackdown, Dean decided the two angels needed a distraction. He would of course be revisiting this interesting tidbit of information that Jimmy had revealed but first he needed to make sure the cemetery’s headstones wouldn’t get damaged during a sibling squabble. 

“As interesting as it would be to see who would win in a fist fight between Life and Death,” Dean piped up, stepping forward as if he were going to be able to actually stop a fight between the two if they set their minds to it. “How about we cool off a bit? I’ll take you two out for some ice cream or something, what do you say?”

As expected, the twins were immediately on board with this plan though Dean did catch a glimpse of Cas glaring at Jimmy (who was sporting a teasing grin of course) from the corner of his eye as they piled into his truck. The drive to town and the ice cream place was filled with energy but Dean got the feeling this was more from the power radiating off his passengers more than their annoyance with each other.

Watching Cas and Jimmy pick an ice cream flavor was a truly entertaining.

Dean would admit he felt a bit smug at having pegged the angels’ reactions to the menu. He watched with amusement as Jimmy bounced excitedly on his feet, eyes darting back and forth eagerly as he took in the sizable selection of ice cream flavors. It seemed like Jimmy wanted to try everything in the shop and being as charmed as he was by Jimmy’s enthusiasm, Dean was highly tempted to help him achieve that goal but eventually Jimmy settled on a banana split.

Cas on the other hand was as serious as Dean had suspected he would be. It was as if the menu was a complicated code that needed to be broken and by golly was Cas going to do it. Dean was actually a bit worried the concentrated force behind those blues eyes was going to set the brightly colored menu board on fire but in the end, the menu survived and Cas ordered a neapolitan flavored waffle bowl. 

They took a table near the back where it was less crowded. Dean noticed that people unconsciously gave the twins a large berth, Cas much more than Jimmy, and he wondered if they were unknowingly sensing their power. He supposed there was a certain thrum to the air around them but Dean didn’t find it off putting but then, he’d come to associate it with Cas and Jimmy instead of an unknown feeling of dread.

“So, not to stir things up, but you guys do know you can visit whenever you want, right?” Dean asked, taking a bit of his brownie batter ice cream. He swallowed it quickly before continuing, “I’ve been kind of expecting you two actually considering the deal we made, you know, that night.”

Jimmy, who until this point had practically dived face first into his sundae, extracted himself in order to grin smugly at Cas, who was staring intently at his waffle bowl. Dean was intrigued to see a slight blush on his cheeks. “Well, see the thing is, Cas was having a hard time popping in to see you,” he explained. He took another bite of his sundae and groaned appreciatively. “Damn, this is fucking delicious. Anyway, he was afraid you were going to freak out if he showed up and since he has this huuuuge crush on you, well he didn’t want to scare you---”

“Hold on and let’s pump the brakes,” Dean interrupted, his heart speeding up slightly at this second mention of Cas liking him. Cas ducked his head and blushed even more to his surprise and Dean found himself in the unique position of thinking Death was...adorable. “Now I don’t want to embarrass you, Cas but do you really...um...feel that way?”

Cas’ eyes darted up to his nervously and he swallowed. “Yes, I’ve found that I’m---that I’m very drawn to you, Dean,” he said slowly, pointedly not looking at him. “There’s just something, vibrant about you. Your soul is so warm and inviting and I suppose I would like to get to know you better.”

Stunned and ice cream forgotten, Dean couldn’t do much other than stare.

Cas...the angel of Death... _liked_ him?

“Personally, I think you’re cute but then I’m not one to get all poetic,” Jimmy piped up, adding to Dean’s shock. Jimmy ate a bite of ice cream, his expression shifting towards thoughtfulness rather than his usual smug amusement. “Though I have to say, you do have a bit of something extra going on in the aura department. I can see why captain tightass over there is smitten.”

Dean would have laughed at the indignant glare Cas gave Jimmy but he was still slightly blown away by the fact that two immensely beings who had to have been around since the beginning of like, everything, were into _him_. Hell, the idea that Life and Death could have crushes on _anyone_ was completely messing with his mind.

_This coming from the guy who thought that Death was “adorable” while he’d been trying to pick an ice cream flavor,_ his mind smugly reminded him. Was it _really_ that bizarre when he stopped to think about it?

It was obvious that Cas and Jimmy weren’t out to get him, why bring him back to life otherwise, so there didn’t seem to be a reason to avoid them. Not to mention he had about a million questions for Cas and Jimmy that’d he’d been itching to ask. It also didn’t hurt that, if he were being honest with himself, the two of them were really starting to grow on him despite only knowing them briefly. 

Maybe he was drawn to them too.

The twins’ bickering was starting to gain in enthusiasm and after an overly loud mention of turning Jimmy into a slug, Dean knew he better step in to prevent accidental over-sharing with the ice cream shop’s patrons. 

“So I was thinking, if you guys liked this, I know this place that makes awesome shakes,” Dean offered. “They make a mean burger too that I bet you two will like.”

Cas turned away from Jimmy, his disgruntled expression washing away to a look of awe tinged with hope. “You want to spend more time with us?”

Smiling, Dean nodded. “Of course, you guys are fun to be around and I did say we could hang out,” he answered, pausing to take another bite of ice cream. “So, you guys in or what?”

A verbal answer was not remotely necessary as Dean watch the twins’ faces bright to the point Dean felt a slight flush washing over his own face at they way they were looking at him. Especially when Jimmy’s look of innocent joy took a sidestep into a playfully sly smirk.

“It’s a date.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! I know that I've been gone for a while and, in typical me-fashion, I return with an update to something that I probably shouldn't be working on but this was the only thing that I could get words out on. To be honest, after a round of somewhat demoralizing comments, I'm just happy to have anything to post at all but I'm going to keep chipping away at my works in progress and maybe if I'm lucky, I'll have some updates for you soon. :)


End file.
